Box 3: Budgets for Impact Assessment
As many aspects of impact assessment should be part of the good practice
management of a project, it is not always meaningful to try and separate out costs.
However, in thinking through impact assessment in project design/implementation,
the following components should be considered and, as far as practical, costed.
These components and costs should be agreed with the partner-organisation, whose
capacity to undertake the required level of IA (e.g. their existing MIS, staff
understanding of IA) should be part of the appraisal process.
INITIAL INFORMATION COLLECTION
Baseline data:
•
What baseline data is required?
•
How will this will be collected? Who by?
•
Are there local skilled enumerators, or is local training needed, or are external
consultants required?
DESIGN OF IMPACT ASSESSMENT
Stakeholder analysis:
•
What meetings are required to undertake stakeholder analysis? At these,
consider:
•
Who should participate in IA and what methods of IA will be most effective in
getting relevant information? What will be the costs to stakeholders of
participation?
•
Are external facilitators required? Can internal staff be trained to do it?
•
What are the costs of these options? Which is likely to produce the better
information?
ONGOING INFORMATION COLLECTION
•
What steps are required to produce data that measures impact against
indicators?
•
Is there an existing MIS that will generate relevant data?
•
Does MIS require modification/elaboration?
•
Do staff know how to use MIS, or is training required?
•
Is there a need for periodic large scale quantitative/qualitative exercises? Are
there local personnel who can undertake these?
ANALYSIS OF INFORMATION
•
Who is responsible for processing information and generating meaningful reports
of progress against indicators?
DISSEMINATION OF FINDINGS
•
What processes are required to disseminate finding?
•
Should there be series of workshops to involve stakeholders?
•
Should the report be translated into local language?
•
Who should the report be copied to?
•
Should the report be synthesised for publication in academic journals, at
conferences etc?
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